


Moonrise

by SylvanAuctor



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-16 03:19:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15427887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SylvanAuctor/pseuds/SylvanAuctor
Summary: Lucretia realizes she can't do this alone.





	1. Wind in the Trees

Lucretia made her way carefully along the path through the Felicity Wilds, placing every step with the utmost care. Her bag of journals was newly heavy on her sacrificed bones. Her hand, papery-wrinkled and shaking, clutched one seventh of the greatest power on the plane with a deathly grip, as she leaned on it for support. It was growing dark; It had been dark when she had entered Wonderland, but the moon had at least been full. Now, she shuffled away from the piercing, gaudy spotlight and strobe, into the darkness. She didn’t even have a spell slot for a light, so as she finally left Wonderland behind, she slumped onto a log and struck a cantrip into her simple, invariant lamp with uncertain hands, then picked herself up and carried on. The flicker of the oil flame cast moving shadows on the ancient trees, trying to trick Lucretia into seeing some sneaking evil among them.

She eventually found something like a road, or at least a broader, flatter, sandier track than she had been on before. If she wasn’t too disoriented, she thought, she knew the way to Phandalin from here.

“Hello there!” A voice with a lilting accent came from far up the road, though Lucretia could see no lamp. “Don’t be afraid!

In a moment, the creeping, hairy shape of a spider taller than a horse appeared out of the darkness, eight obsidian-black eyes glinting in the firelight. She was afraid anyway, and began to back up. “Please,” she said, “I don’t mean any harm…”

“I know, darling!” said the voice. “Really, don’t be afraid, that’s just Bryan. He’s big, but he doesn’t bite!” A drow in rough grey travelling clothes melted out of the shadows. He scratched the spider affectionately on the back of the head, and it nuzzled into him like a huge cat, clicking contentedly. Finally, Lucretia noticed the traces connecting the spider’s bulbous abdomen to a brightly-colored cart behind it.

“Oh,” Lucretia said, and gave a tense laugh. “He’s tame.”

“Well of course!” said the drow. He looked Lucretia up and down. “My goodness, you look ragged. Sit for a moment, have something to eat.”

The drow helped Lucretia up into the back of the cart, sat her down on a bench opposite a sleeping orc woman, and wrapped a colorful woollen blanket around her shoulders. He set down tea and dark bread and a bowl of steaming mushrooms in front of her, and ate in silence with her.

“What’s your name, darling?” he asked.

“Lucretia,” she said, barely above a whisper.

“Brian,” Brian said.

“But the--”

“Yes, well he’s  _ Bryan.  _ With a y.”

“Oh. Well, thank you for all of this, Brian. It’s very kind.”

“It’s our pleasure. And well, honestly, you had the look of someone who just came out of… there.” He gestured vaguely up the road.

“I did. Have you?”

Brian shook his head and smiled. “There’s nothing I want that that place could give me.”

Lucretia looked up at him. “You’re totally content?”

“Well, I’d be happier if people didn’t cringe away from a drow on the street,” he said, and shrugged. “But what to do about that? It takes work. Can’t just burn down the world and start over.”

“No,” Lucretia said. “I guess we can’t.”

“Where are you going, darling?”

“Back to work,” she said. Back to the Starblaster, empty except for herself and Davenport -- what was left of him -- and Fisher, to try to figure out how to save the world. “What about you?”

Brian shrugged. “Did you know that baby spiders find new ground by spinning a web into the wind, and letting it carry them?”

“Really?” Lucretia said, glancing in Bryan’s direction. “I can’t imagine.”

“Baby spiders are very small,” Brian said. “We were heading to Phandalin, but if there’s somewhere we could take you, I’m sure we wouldn’t mind.”

The Starblaster was in the exact opposite direction, but Lucretia found herself intrigued by Brian, the totally contented drow who, just beneath the surface, thrummed with an ocean of magic. “Phandalin sounds nice,” she said.


	2. Static, Part 1

Lucretia slept for the rest of the night, and just before sunrise, Brian made breakfast for three.

“Killian, darling, this is Lucretia,” he said, as the orc woman climbed out of the wagon, yawning and stretching. “She’s very, very strong and very, very good at her job.”

“Hey,” she said. “Nice to meet you. What brings you around Felicity Wilds?”

“I--”

“Tea is ready!” Brian said, and hastily slid a mug of strong Rockport Breakfast blend into Lucretia’s hand. Lucretia took a long sip while Brian went on, “Killian, could you grab the cinnamon sugar from the cart? I just remembered I didn’t bring it out for the oatmeal.” Killian went off.

“It’s okay,” Lucretia said. “She can know I was in Wonderland.”

“Better safe than sorry, I thought,” Brian said. “I’d hate to start your day like that.”

“Well, thank you,” Lucretia said.

Killian came back with the cinnamon sugar, and Brian mixed it and a few other spices into the oatmeal before handing out generous bowls. Lucretia ate, and it was… not as good as Taako’s, but very good.

Brian went to bed, and Killian took Bryan’s reins, while Lucretia sat next to her in the front of the cart. They rode for a while without talking.

 

“So are you and Brian both wizards?” Lucretia asked.

“Oh, no,” Killian said. “I’m mostly Brian’s guard, and extra hands, and whatever else we need in camp.”

“How did you two meet?”

“I…” Killian paused. “I can’t remember. Like, I know I needed help, and I know Brian did too, and it was far away. But I can’t remember anything about why.”

Lucretia froze. “Is that… usual for you? Not to remember things?”

“I know I was in Artemis Sterling’s army, but I can’t remember why I was fighting. And that just eats me up, you know? What did I care about so much that I was ready to die for it? Whatever it was… I want it back. Because I must have loved it. Hey, are you feeling alright?”

“What?” Lucretia snapped, more fiercely than she wanted.

“You’re breathing really hard,” Killian said, and stopped the cart. “Do we need a cleric to look at you?”

“No, no,” she said. And before she could talk herself out of it, she said, “I can’t go to Phandalin. There’s a cave, by the Stillwater Sea. I need to go there. I can show you. The Phoenix Fire Gauntlet, the Gaia Sash, all of it.”

“How did you do that with your mouth?” Killian asked. “How… Wait... I  _ remember  _ that sound.”

“I know you do.”


End file.
